vibrancy of Indian women’s movement Considered worldwide. However, little attention has been paid to its gradual change. Over the years, its emphasis has shifted from serving as a beacon for a nationalist movement to a rights-based civil society movement to a state-led movement for economic empowerment. What does this portend for the future of the Indian women’s movement?
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the three Stooges
“When the woman, whom we call Abla (weak), be Sabla (strong), all those who are weak will become strong. This clarion call made by Mahatma Gandhi at the 1936 All India Women’s Conference was the hallmark of a nationalist movement, dependent on women serving as its faces. The political history of the Indian women’s movement is written in photographs of wave after wave of arrests of women satyagrahis during the Salt Satyagraha and the Quit India Movement; Mrinal Gore and her women protestors carrying rolling pins to protest against the price hike; Chipko, one of the earliest ecofeminist movements in the world, circulated photographs of women clinging to trees to protest tree cutting; and, the Nirbhaya, Shaheen Bagh and Sabarimala protests of recent years. Some were openly associated with political parties, others sought to reshape political discourse but were not affiliated with party politics.
However, these images of protest are not the only ones that characterize women’s activism. While public mobilization is highly visible, the Quiet Revolution of the 1970s perhaps paid as much attention to the specific needs of women as did street protests. For example, the Self-Employed Women’s Association began organizing women in the informal sector, advocating for improved legal and social protections for women workers; Feminist advocacy that exposed sex-selective abortion and discrimination in inheritance patterns led to legal reforms; And women’s formal and informal groups have worked hard to reform and enforce laws against sexual harassment in the workforce and in public places. Arguably, the greatest success of this mobilization came when the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution was passed, which reserved one-third of the seats in panchayats and leadership positions in local bodies. For ladies.
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The latest era in women’s activism is distinguished by the harsh politics of protest and quietly organized rights-based movements. The government has invested heavily in the formation and support of Self Help Groups (SHGs). The Economic Survey states that there are about 12 million self-help groups in India today, the majority of which are women. These SHGs are usually supported and advised by community resource persons paid by the state. SHGs primarily function as savings and loan institutions, where members deposit small amounts of savings per month and can borrow in case of emergencies. In some cases, they also support entrepreneurship through bank loans.
These different aspects of the women’s movement—political movements, grassroots organizing for legal and policy reforms, and state-led organizations for economic empowerment—have each addressed different dimensions of women’s lives. The question is, should one be given special authority over others?
A glass half full or half empty?
The inclusion of women in the nationalist movement set the stage for the acceptance of women’s leadership in politics. While some of this leadership was sustained in family ties, many women leaders of modern India did not owe their positions to fathers or husbands. Most of these leaders focused on pressing issues of the day, which generally did not include women’s empowerment. Nonetheless, their presence created space for increased participation of women in electoral politics, setting the stage for grassroots mobilization.
Civil society mobilization around legal and policy reforms directly affecting women’s lives worked hard to remain non-partisan and build a rights-based agenda against persistent patriarchal institutions. However, this rights-based agenda eventually called for reforms in state policies and legal institutions. In contrast, and possibly in reaction, over the past two decades, the state has chosen its own path to mobilize women.
About 12 million SHGs, each with 10-15 members, are organized under the aegis of government programs in rural India. They replaced the women’s groups under the old program, the Women’s Samakhya, which was explicitly designed to organize women and sensitize them about their rights. assessment of women A report by researchers from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad noted the success of the program in mobilizing women but highlighted its relative ineffectiveness in enhancing business skills and entrepreneurship. The current generation of SHG movement in close association with the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) seeks to address this shortcoming.
An evaluation of the current version of state-sponsored programs under NRLM by the Imago and 3ie teams paints a mixed picture. Dependence on high interest loans from moneylenders has reduced. In some states, there has been a small increase in income (wage income for most men), often because NRLM participation was leveled with MGNREGA. However, there is limited evidence of increased incomes due to entrepreneurship or women’s empowerment within the household. However, participation in self-help groups was related to increased participation in gram panchayat meetings, leading to the possibility of greater political power.
develop rapport
These diverse phases of the women’s movement in India present an exciting challenge. Does state intrusion into women’s movements undermine civil society-led programmes? Can a state-led movement transform women’s lives by taking up economic empowerment programs on a large scale? Perhaps the answer lies in the difference between the practical and strategic needs of women. If the state-led movement can effectively increase women’s access to income-generating activities, it can meet women’s practical needs and improve their economic power. The increased economic power will set the stage for meeting their strategic needs, including reshaping discriminatory laws and policies and disrupting patriarchal forces at home.
However, most of the activities of the Self Help Groups are limited to micro-credit. Unless this massive mobilization of women is supported by other programs that provide better livelihood opportunities, they will remain toothless. Still, there are some silver linings. In some parts of the country, SHGs under NRLM have been able to use funds under MGNREGA to create income-generating assets for women, such as cattle sheds and poultry sheds. In other areas, women’s cooperatives run by self-help groups have been able to supply food and products for various government programs. When convergence can be achieved with other government programs to build infrastructure or procure goods and services, SHGs can significantly increase women’s income.
However, when viewed as a whole, the SHG movement is neither a fish nor a bird. Its potential to increase women’s income is under-utilised. At the same time, through its vast expanse, the movement has created a base of women members who have historically promoted grassroots civil society movements and undermined these movements. Sometimes it has also been used as a political weapon by ruling governments – for example, the ruling CPI(M) government in Kerala used it. Number of SHG women in formation of human wall during Sabarimala protests in the state.
The silver lining is that regardless of the outcome, the growth of self-help groups has brought a large number of women into the public sphere. If the women’s movement continues to flourish under a strong civil society leadership, this vast army of SHG members may be able to draw strength from government programs that empower them economically and civil society organizations that empower them socially. and politically empowered so that they can become a formidable force for India’s development. , However, the key is not to put all eggs in the same basket of state-led programs and to ensure that other spaces for women’s activism are protected.
(Sonalde Desai is professor of sociology at the University of Maryland and professor and center director of the NCAER-National Data Innovation Center. Views are personal).